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Basic Information
Basic Information
Soft Deadline: Friday Nov 16, 8 pm.
Submit by this time in order to receive feedback. Otherwise, include in your final portfolio.
Infogrpahics are a form of visual argument that compresses a large amount of information into a specific representation. They blend text, data, and visuals in order to present a compact argument that informs and compels.
For this project, you’ll turn positions and information you’ve gathered from your research paper into an infographic, designing one document that shares your knowledge and opinion with a wider audience.
Process: Read back over your research paper and/or sources. Think about what groups of people are effected by your topic, and target one. Think about what visual choices you want to make. Brainstorm on a sketchpad, or just play around with images you find online.
Identify what facts, statistics, concepts, processes, or other information make your point best. What do people need to know about your issue? You can decide to present compelling statistics and facts, or you can choose to illustrate theories and concepts.
Decide if you need to do any extra research on your topic.
Think about how to structure your claims and data. Visual forms of data presentation include pie charts, bar graphs, maps, models, line graphs, timelines, and comparison tables.
Look at examples of infographics posted in the infographic folder. The more infographics you study, the more ideas you'll have about how to represent your ideas.
Experiment with infographic design tools. The most popular browser-based tools include Infogram.com, Cenngage.com, and Visme. These tools offer templates. You can start with a template, but ultimately you'll need to customize it to suit your purposes.
Design: You'll need to make decisions about the following.
- Orientation (horizontal/landscape or portrait/vertical)
- Overall tone and style (serious, clever, informative, persuasive)
- Number of panels.
- Font type, size, and color.
- Types of icons and visuals. You'll want to be consistent.
- Grouping of information (where it appears on the sheet).
- White space (how dense you want the graphic to appear).
The final version will be included in your final portfolio. You will work on these during class and will have plenty of time to show each other progress and ask questions.
Grading Criteria: Your infographic should do the following:
- Present a clear argument in a concise manner.
- Offer a visual representation of data that supports your claim.
- Use photographs, icons, or other visuals to organize your information.
- Demonstrate purpose in design regarding the placement and arrangement of text, data, color, and visuals.
A Simple Example
A Simple Example
This public service announcement conveys an argument to pet owners based on a nonprofit’s studies and experiences with annual fatalities. Certainly, a researcher can present an argument supported with claims and evidence on the problem of pets’ overexposure to heat, in an article which would influence a certain kind of audience (other nonprofits, humane societies, law enforcement officials, veterinarians, animal trainers, animal rights groups, etc).
But would an article be the best way to reach the larger population of pet owners? Instead, this PSA uses striking visuals, including bold simple fonts, a minimal use of language, and vivid colors (red, yellow, white) with high contrast. It uses a cartoon style to soften the idea of pet fatality, as opposed to an actual photograph. The X-marks over the eyes and the lolling tongue signify injury or death that is clear but not graphic, and the wavy red lines contrasted with black indicate excessive heat. It gets the point across without offending people. Consider also that we only need to see the dog’s face, not its entire body. The car has been drawn in the simplest way possible, facing forward, with no extra colors or details that might distract from the key visual.
But would an article be the best way to reach the larger population of pet owners? Instead, this PSA uses striking visuals, including bold simple fonts, a minimal use of language, and vivid colors (red, yellow, white) with high contrast. It uses a cartoon style to soften the idea of pet fatality, as opposed to an actual photograph. The X-marks over the eyes and the lolling tongue signify injury or death that is clear but not graphic, and the wavy red lines contrasted with black indicate excessive heat. It gets the point across without offending people. Consider also that we only need to see the dog’s face, not its entire body. The car has been drawn in the simplest way possible, facing forward, with no extra colors or details that might distract from the key visual.
The dog is also centered in the middle of the poster, where viewers will naturally look first. Finally, the text is simple but effective, especially the phrase “cars turn into coffins.” In a creative twist, the authors also wrote RIP (rest in peace) on the license place to drive home the gravity. An additional benefit of this PSA is that you could display it almost anywhere that people take their pets: post offices, grocery stores, parks. That way, the sign serves as a bold and immediate reminder.
Sources for images: you can use images with a creative commons license with no risk. Generally, using copyrighted images for coursework only falls until fair use, as long as you source the image and don't use it commercially. Anytime you find an image on Google, click on "advanced image search" and then select for the "Usage Rights" dropdown, ALWAYS confirm that the images you find are actually licensed as you selected. Do your best to track down the author of an image before using it.
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